Businesses 'complain' about having their VAT refunds 'held' causing huge losses but don't know who to complain to!?

Businesses still face many difficulties with administrative procedures.

On the morning of November 1, speaking at the discussion session in the hall on the assessment of the results of the implementation of the socio-economic development plan for 2023; the expected socio-economic development plan for 2024... in the program of the 6th session of the 15th National Assembly, National Assembly delegate Mai Thi Phuong Hoa - National Assembly Delegation of Nam Dinh province expressed her agreement with the results achieved and the assessments in the Verification Report of the Economic Committee...

Coal mining companies have had their taxes reduced, causing huge losses, but they don't know who to call for help. Image 1 — Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Duc Hai chaired the discussion session.

In particular, to contribute to the improvement of solutions for economic recovery and development, delegate Mai Thi Phuong Hoa said that it is necessary to pay attention to policies to support businesses and entrepreneurs in the coming time. According to Ms. Hoa, in the current period, businesses and entrepreneurs are facing numerous difficulties. In this situation, the Politburo issued Resolution No. 41-NQ/TW on promoting the role of entrepreneurs in the new situation. The National Assembly has issued many policies to support businesses, and at the same time organized the Vietnam Socio-Economic Forum in 2023 to unlock resources and support businesses to overcome difficulties. The Government always accompanies and directs the removal of difficulties and obstacles for businesses in each field.

"However, businesses are still facing immediate difficulties and need to take measures to resolve them," Ms. Hoa stated and provided the following specific contents:

Firstly, outstanding debts of basic construction capital for construction enterprises are still a prominent issue in public investment management, mainly outstanding debts from local budgets; notably, there are debts from before 2015. The consequences of this situation are prolonged project completion time, slow commissioning of works, reducing investment efficiency, greatly affecting business operations.

Coal mining companies have had their taxes reduced, causing huge losses, but they don't know who to call. Image 2 — National Assembly Delegate Mai Thi Phuong Hoa - National Assembly Delegation of Nam Dinh province.

Second, the delay in refunding value-added tax (VAT), businesses also face many difficulties in administrative procedures arising from the guiding documents on the business. According to Ms. Hoa, the report of the Finance - Budget Committee assessed the manual nature of the business, the complexity of overlapping documents and the lack of criteria for classifying risks in tax refund dossiers.

"In reality, there are businesses complaining that businesses that violate financial obligations to the state will be severely punished. However, businesses that have outstanding debts for basic construction capital and have their VAT refunds withheld, causing great losses, do not know who to complain to," said delegate Mai Thi Phuong Hoa, who requested the Government to clarify the cause and have drastic solutions to handle this situation.

Third, business credit is difficult, many small and medium enterprises find it difficult to fully meet the loan conditions of credit institutions... Accordingly, delegate Mai Thi Phuong Hoa said that it is necessary to have more open procedures, and to research more specific and flexible credit products for businesses.

Fourth, the inspection and examination work of state management agencies with enterprises in some cases is not effective in helping enterprises detect violations early and from a distance for timely correction. The Nam Dinh delegation requested that the prosecution, inspection and investigation agencies should further accelerate the investigation, prosecution and final trial of related cases so that affected enterprises can restructure, soon restore production and business, and continue to contribute to society.

Coal companies have had their taxes reduced, causing huge damage, but they don't know who to call for help. Image 3 — National Assembly Delegate Vu Tien Loc - Member of the National Assembly's Economic Committee, Chairman of the Vietnam International Arbitration Center.

If the system is not good, you can't spend money!?

Participating in the discussion, National Assembly delegate Vu Tien Loc - Member of the National Assembly's Economic Committee, Chairman of the Vietnam International Arbitration Center said that money is important to restore and develop the economy, but more important is the institution. "Good institutions will open up resources, help money make money, bad institutions will not be able to spend money", Mr. Loc emphasized and said that the most important thing in the current context is to promote institutional reform, simplify administrative procedures, because according to the reflection of people and businesses, they are still cumbersome. Overlapping and inappropriate regulations, especially lack of transparency, causing risks must be overcome; at the same time, remove the fear of injustice, mistakes, fear of inspection and examination of civil servants and businesses.

“I propose that it is necessary to study and set limits on the frequency and scope of inspections and checks with local ministries, sectors and businesses so that they can confidently make efforts to disburse economic recovery aid packages. It is necessary to immediately add appropriate economic sanctions to handle violations and not criminalize economic relations; at the same time, practically and wholeheartedly implement measures to protect officials and businessmen who dare to think and act for the common good, including the requirement to legalize regulations on this issue,” said delegate Vu Tien Loc.

Coal companies have had their taxes reduced, causing huge damage, but they don't know who to call for help. Image 4 — National Assembly delegates attending the discussion session.

National Assembly delegate Vu Tien Loc also said that in a crisis, the classic, direct solution that brings about the most direct and fastest results is to pump money into the economy. He assessed that the decisions to pump money were issued by the National Assembly but implementation encountered many obstacles. Therefore, the urgent task now is to focus on solving the situation of having money but not being able to spend it. As long as this situation persists, it will be difficult to hope for a breakthrough development of the economy in the near future.

Also according to Mr. Vu Tien Loc, in terms of institutions, in addition to perfecting the legal system, it is necessary to have breakthrough strategies and policies to develop economic sectors in the new context; not to repeat the situation after decades of opening up and integration where key industries such as automobiles, textiles, electronics, footwear, and even agriculture basically stopped at the processing and assembly level.

“If Vietnam participates in global value chains, even in high-end and potential industries such as semiconductor chips, but in the next 10-15 years, Vietnam still takes on the processing and packaging stages, the country cannot overcome the middle-class trap and cannot become a developed country,” Mr. Loc emphasized that it is necessary to have national-level strategic decisions from both the National Assembly and the Government.

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